Holistic Pediatricians

Dr. Chheda – Okay, when you’re the mom of a newborn, you feel completely overwhelmed. First, this is a new personality in your house. Second, you’re not getting any sleep. The baby is dictating the whole schedule, and they want to be fed or changed or diapered at all at the same time, and then you can’t figure out what’s going on. You want to try to get your life back into a routine. You want to get a little bit more calm. Don’t overwhelm yourself. There is a lot of things that need to happen not only for the baby, but also for yourself as your body’s healing.

So I recommend set just one goal for yourself every day. Whether that goal is to take a bath, whether that goal is to just call up a friend, whether that goal is let’s do one set of dishes or one load of laundry – but that’s it. Only one goal a day.

Don’t try to do everything. You can’t do all the household chores that you were doing before and try to take care of the baby and have your body heal at the same time. No, there are priorities. Your baby is a priority, your body is a priority, but so is your mental health.

So let other people take care of everything, and you set only one goal for yourself. And slowly over time you will get into a routine that you’re comfortable with, and you won’t be feeling so overwhelmed

Dr. Chheda – When nutritional gaps exist, or when your picky eater just has a very limited variety, there are things that can fall through the cracks. You can use supplements, but they’re not a magic fix. But some basic supplements that you can use are vitamin D, probiotics, omega-3s, and a whole food multivitamin.

Dr. Chheda – Kids do so much better not only when they have a routine, but also when they have some responsibilities. Starting from the age of 3, 4, they can have responsibilities.

You know, whether it’s about picking up their own toys, whether you want to teach them how to pattern – you know, take all the blue socks and put them together or find the matching pair.

And if they have the ability to use their index finger on a tablet, they can definitely push a button either on the dishwasher or on the laundry machine. They don’t have to do the whole laundry, but they can definitely help you with it. They can put all the clothes in, and trust me, they were taking all the clothes out when they were 15 months old, so they definitely know how to help you.

And you can assign responsibility, you can assign chores. Kids will feel valued that way. So you can definitely start with chores at a young age, and remember to keep that going and keep adding to their responsibilities, to their chore list, as they get through elementary, middle, and high school.

Cause by the time they’re done, they have to do everything on their own. And if you’ve always done it for them, they’re never gonna figure it out. Do you really want them going on YouTube videos just to try to figure out how to do laundry? It’s something you could have taught them when they were 3 years old. Come on, teach your kids.

🤱 Did I pack lunches today? Is it picture day? Did I wash my conditioner out of my hair? What’s for dinner? Why is it so quiet? Do we have milk? Did I put the clothes in the dryer?

All valid questions. All these questions moms have running through their head. It’s called mom mode. Moms carry it like pros – all of us do.

Shout out to every mama out there. Twin mom or not, we are rocking it and doing our best.

Dr. Chheda – ⏰ Fussy eating often links back to a disregulated rhythm, meaning a child who is overtired or overstimulated, or grazing all day long, may simply not be hungry or may not be emotionally regulated at mealtimes.

Some ways to realign the schedule is to offer predictable meals – three meals, two snacks at predictable times. To also offer calming activities at predictable times, like bath time. To protect nap and nighttime times fiercely. You want to make sure they’re sleeping at the same time so they can readjust to a schedule and a routine. And try to limit screen times at meals.

Dr. Chheda – Your child comes home from school and you say “How was your day?” and they’re like “Uh” or they kind of grunt at you. “Nothing.” Nothing ever happens at school if you ask them directly. But you want to ask more open-ended questions. “Who made you smile today?” “Who did you sit next to at lunch?” “Did you face any challenges?” “Was there a fire drill?” There’s always gonna be a fire drill the first week of school at some point.

But this will open up an organic conversation that you and then have with your child. “Oh, what did the other person eat for lunch? What were they wearing? How did it make you feel? Did somebody make you laugh?”

And then you can go on into “Was math a little bit hard or did you learn anything?” You want that conversation to be organic, so start out with some open-ended questions.

And remember, school is starting – be prepared.

Dr. Chheda – 🍽️ Meal time isn’t just about food – it’s about connection, it’s about emotions. If you’re having power struggles, if there’s parental anxiety around the meal, or if you’re trying to rush the meal, it’s all gonna backfire.

Reset the vibe. Don’t create power struggles. Let your child self-serve when possible. Create rituals around the meals like gratitude. Never force bites – that will create a lot of resistance.

And lastly, have a neutral emotion at the table. It’s not about “Oh great, you finished the food!” It’s all about “Oh, there’s food to be had.”

⏰Make time your friend, not your rush. A lot of people have a difficult time, even adults, with time management. So we have some simple tips for kids that you can help entertain. So the first is to use a visual schedule or planner. So kids are very visual, they go off of cues. So charts with tasks helps with school work and all that good stuff.

Second is break tasks into small steps. So rather than give them a large task that can feel overwhelming, you want to make sure to kind of break it up.

You do want to set some clear priorities. For example, school work before video games.

And you want to use timers. So maybe set it for 20 minutes at a time with a nice fun break afterwards. Absolutely.

You want to prepare – teach your children to prepare the night before. I know that my household runs a lot smoother when our clothes are laid out the night before, our water bottles are already prepped.

You also want to avoid too much multitasking. Multitasking is a good skill to have, but you want it to be appropriate. It’s okay to break some of that stuff down to focus and concentrate on one thing at a time.

Use your clocks, use your timers to help raise time awareness. Sometimes if we don’t have a clock or a timer, time really does get away with us. It sure does.

Dr. Chheda – Some toddlers aren’t picky – they’re just sensitive. They gag on certain textures, or they limit their diet to certain foods because of sensory issues.

Some strategies to try are to use a vibrating toothbrush to help desensitize their mouth, to do food-based play therapy – smell the food, squish the food, touch the food. It’s not only about taste, it’s about using all the senses.

And offer deconstructed meals – a little bit of different foods on the plate that are not touching each other.

And if these strategies don’t work, a referral to an occupational therapist is the next step.

Dr. Chheda – 🦠Gut health is a game changer. A good microbiome not only helps immunity and digestion, but also helps your child’s mood and behavior. Kids with gut imbalance often show food aversions or obsessive food fixations.

Some ways to help your child have a stronger gut is to: Introduce probiotics early, such as yogurt, kefir, kimchi.

Try to limit antibiotics and discuss with your pediatrician how you can do that.

Rotate foods on a regular basis so there’s a good variety of foods in your child’s gut.

And last, you can use bone broth or lentil soup to help heal the gut lining.